The Darkness Within
by MonstaWolf
Summary: Time zone: After Dawn of the Dragon. Spyro and Cynder may have defeated Malefor, but that was only a body - the Dark Master is what's inside the body. After the defeat of Malefor, Cynder sees something happen to Spyro that she can't quite understand… Ah I suck at summaries. The actual story has a lot more detail. R&R, and most importantly, enjoy! Rating for further in the story.
1. Chapter 1: The Untold

**Hey guys, it's MonstaWolf here, with my first fanfic, 'The Darkness Within.' [BEFORE YOU JUDGE, PLEASE CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING.]**

** 1. This was all done with a laggy, outdated, and cracked iPod touch using only Notes and Safari.**

** 2. This is my first fanfic. **

**3. I'm an 8th grade guy, so I have lots of stuff to do. I did this over spring break. 4. I may or may not be switching to a computer so I can use italics, bold, and underlining.**

** 5. Sorry if this chapter is a stub, they will get longer.**

** 6. I did this in one day.**

** 7. I accept flames, just please make them more helpful than aggressive. **

**8. For lemon lovers, you're outta luck. **

**9. I don't have a schedule, but expect one at least once a week. I'm not guaranteeing it though. Kinda busy. **

**10. PLEASE REVIEW. Tell me about grammar mistakes, anything hard to understand, and your likes and dislikes. I will pm you.**

** I can't think of anything else to write, so enjoy!**

"Is he alive?"

"Yeah, he's stirring."

"I hope he'll be okay." Spyro groaned as he awoke to various voices. Volteer, Terrador, Cyril… and Cynder. "Spyro… can you speak?" Volteer asked, worriedly. Spyro tried to say, "Yeah," but it came out as a cracked, muffled squeak. "He needs water," Volteer instructed to no one in particular, "now." Cynder, being the one who cared for him most, trampled over everyone to get to the little pool of water. She grabbed a stainless-steel cup and filled it halfway, so that there was less of a chance it would spill. She rushed the water over to Volteer, who held it to Spyro's mouth and tipped the glass.

The water felt like heaven. It cleaned the dust, gravel, and everything else as it ran down his throat. Once he was done slowly sipping down the water, he cleared his throat. "Can you spe-" Volteer started, but was cut off by Spyro."Yes, Volteer, I can speak. I just have one question. Why am I like… this…" he trailed off as a string of events flowed from the back of his mind to the front. The war. The defeat of Malefor. The world nearly falling apart. Sparing his only shield for Cynder. Those three words Cynder said. "Spyro, anybody in there? Hello?" His thoughts were interrupted by the familiar, squeaky voice. It's source was…none other than a small, glowing dragonfly! "Sparx! It's good to see ya, buddy!" Spyro grunted a bit as he sat up, but didn't care. Sparx flew over to him and sat on his shoulder. "I thought you were a goner the moment we were seperated," Sparx began, "but it seems that a certain black dragoness-" he gestured toward Cynder, "-kept her promise." Cynder blushed a bit at that.

Spyro tried to get up, but flinched when a paw ran lightly over his shoulder. "You're not going anywhere, not in that condition." The voice was Cynder's. She brought a mirror over to show Spyro what he looked like. When he looked in it, he saw a bloody, bruised, and dirty version of his face. "Well then how am I supposed to get clean? That would feel a lot bet-" he was interrupted when he got a face full of ice-cold water. Luckily, since he was technically an ice dragon, it didn't affect him as much. But that doesn't mean he didn't feel it. Cynder giggled as Spyro sputtered and spit out water. "What was that for?" He muttered. Cynder, still giggling, replied, "That was to answer your question." Spyro, believe it or not, yawned. A few hours later, Spyro was asleep. The day was still at bright daylight, so the others were still awake. Cynder was sitting by Spyro, observing his sleeping patterens. Nothing suspicious or strange. She began to go into a deep trance just staring at Spyro, until Volteer walked in and snapped her out of it. "Nothing seems to be going on with him, I wonder if it even will effect him." She reported.

"Oh, it will, sometime or another. I'm sure of that." Volteer replied nonchalantly.

"Should I tell him when he wakes?"

"If you want to give the poor guy a heart attack, then yes."

"Fine, I wont tell him." Cynder and Volteer walked out of the room, to let the purple dragon rest.

Spyro was walking around a very dimly lit cave. The only light sources was the occasional fire. He walked for what seemed forever, until finally a somewhat familiar voice struck his eardrums. "You think you may have killed me, but that was only one of the thousands of puny bodies I have possessed. The Dark Master shall live on and on and on… and you're next." The voice was as deep and raspy as an audible voice could be. Every time it spoke. The ground shifted under his feet. Spyro opened his mouth to speak, but he started choking. He choked more and more, as dark grey mist began to surround him. Wait. The black mist was what he was choking on. He choked and coughed up blood and it just wouldn't stop. "You're mine." The voice said.

Spyro woke, screaming, eyes wide in terror. Cynder and the guardians all rushed in. "Spyro!" Cynder shouted. "What's wrong!? Are you okay!?" There was a hint of missing emotion in her tone, but Spyro couldn't detect it. He was too terrified to think. He could only focus his mind on one thing, and that was Cynder's question.

"I honestly don't know if I'm okay anymore."

**So, what did you guys think? Like the cliffhanger? Btw, tell me if you like the whole 'mystery' thing, so I know in the future. Please R&R for more! MonstaWolf out!**


	2. Chapter 2: The Effects

**Okay, so this is working out good! Thanks to all my reviewers and their support. You just wasted about 5 seconds of your time reading this.**

**Lets do dis thang!**

Cynder could see the fear in Spyro's face, nevertheless the pouring sweat, heavy breathing and paleness. She opened her mouth to speak.

"Spyro, I have to tell you something." Spyro was too terrified to say anything. Volteer gave her a 'Shut up right now or else' sorta look. Giving Volteer her famous death stare, she carried on. "I saw something right before you pulled the world back together. Since you had your eyes shut, you didn't notice a black ghost-looking thing fly from Malefor's body to yours. Volteer believes it's the Dark Master-" Spyro cut her off.

"In the dream I had, he said, something about Malefor being only one of the thousands of bodies he has possessed, and that now I'm next. " Spyro seemed surprisingly calm, given granted the situation.

"I don't see anything we can do other than see if this takes effect or not. We will move on from there. For now, I'm sorry to say Spyro, but you will have to stay in a well guarded area until something happens. I'm sorry Spyro, but it's so nobody gets hurt. For everyone's safety, including yours." Spyro slowly backed away from them.

"You… you can't do this to me! I just saved the world, and this is how I get payed!?" He got in a defensive position. "Cynder, you must be against this too, right?" Cynder looked at him sadly.

"Sorry Spyro, but I have to agree with them. I don't want anyone to get hurt." With those words the guardians moved in on Spyro.

"Okay Spyro," Cyril said in a somewhat sad tone, "we can do this the easy way, or the hard way." Spyro aimed to leap over Cyril, but his judgement was off due to him still in shock at what he just heard. He ended up on Cyril's face. To everyone else, it seemed like he was fighting back, even though it was an error of judgement. Terrador pried him off of Cyril's face and said sternly,

"Hard way it is then." Halfway through those words, he shoved Spyro's head at the wall, instantly knocking him out.

"Poor guy." Volteer said as he watched Spyro get carried out by Terrador. Him, Cynder, and Cyril followed Terrador out of the room, then out of the temple.

"Welcome back, Spyro." That dreadful voice again. Spyro didn't bother open his mouth, not wanting to experience what happened last time again. The strange part was that now he knew he was dreaming. Last time he could not detect the fact that he was dreaming. "Look down." Said the voice. Spyro, who didn't feel like being defiant at the time, did as he was told. When he did glance down, he saw a third person view of himself. He was bound to a wall by chains. With a steel muzzle on. Surrounded by cheetah guards. Bows pointed toward him. Wait. Something wasn't right. Were his… eyes glowing? And he was sure his scales weren't always that dark. Wait, that could only mean… Spyro held in a scream of terror when he realized what was happening. The Spyro he saw was trying to get out. He had an angry look on his face. The real Spyro would never act like that in that situation. "It's okay, you can speak." The voice let out a devilish laugh. Spyro decided he would try to speak. He opened his mouth to speak, and this time nothing bad happened.

"What… what is this…" even though he was now granted the ability to speak, this was the moment he was speechless. Oh, the irony. Now was not a good time to express any humor at all, though.

"Oh, this? That's just my… let's call it… my creation." Even though he could not see it, Spyro could tell that whatever the source of the voice was, it was sure smirking. Spyro couldn't handle anymore of this. "What are you!? What have you done to me!? How are you doing this!? Why me!?" The voice laughed at the last question.

"Why you? Because you're the purple dragon, genius. Why else?" The cracked voice kept laughing that horrible, scratchy laugh. It began to make Spyro feel weak, frightened. Worst of all, helpless. "Face it, Spyro. I win. You lose. Soon enough I will be able to control you any time I want!"

"H-how?" Spyro's voice trembled as he asked again.

"You really think I'm gonna answer that? I heard what the guardians said to you. Heck, I can see anything you can see!" Spyro collapsed, and begun to feel like he couldn't move. He coughed up blood again, as black mist surrounded him.

Spyro awoke with a gasp. From what he could see, the voice, or 'Dark Master,' wasn't lying. He was still bound to a wall by steel chains, a rusty muzzle keeping his mouth shut, cheetah guards surrounding him, bows pointed.

"Ugh, where am I…" Spyro was still dizzy from what happened earlier. Well, anyone would. While Spyro seemed normal again, the cheetah guards refused to speak. They were only doing as they were told. Spyro felt as if he was about to vomit, but used all his power in not letting it come out because he had that muzzle on, and it would be quite gross if it got in there. One of the cheetah guards made a sign to another (which Spyro couldn't decipher, of course) and the guard who received the guard walked out of the big room. About half an hour later, he came back, Volteer with him. Volteer walked up to Spyro and began checking him over. When he made an 'A Okay' sign to a cheetah the Spyro couldn't see, the Cheetah pulled a lever, thus undoing the the chains. Spyro practically rolled off the table. Volteer helped him undo his muzzle, and once it was off Volteer threw it to a cheetah. The cheetah caught it, but nearly fell because of the intensity of the throw. Volteer muttered a quick

"Sorry." and headed out. The cheetah guards, now holding daggers with sedatives on the tip of them, ushered Spyro out. Once he was out, they ushered him to the room Volteer had gone to. When he got there, Cynder, Volteer, the rest of the guardians, and Hunter, who had recently heard about the news, were there too. Terrador cleared his throat. "It seems we have found the problem. It happens when you become unconscious. We can-" Spyro cut him off, with a somewhat angry tone.

"So, are you saying I'm not allowed to sleep anymore!?" Terrador began to look frustrated as well. "That's not what I was going to say! Look, we can tie you up or something every time we know you're gonna go to sleep. It's not guaranteed perfect, but it's something." All Spyro could reply with was, "Mmph."

"Maybe he could sleep in a guarded room, perhaps that would be more comfortable?" Hunter chimed in. "I guess it would be a bit creepy having cheetahs or dragons watching you sleep, but I would think it's better than being tied up."

"Also, no alcoholic drinks or anything like that, we don't want you falling asleep unexpectedly." Cyril said. "In fact, Hunter here whipped up a batch of- what did you call it?"

"Energy booster drink."

"Yeah, that. It will help you stay awake easier. And, it doesn't taste too bad, either."

"Hey, that isn't that bad at all." Spyro was trying the 'energy drink.' As soon as he was done, he felt no difference. "I don't feel any-" he cut off as a burst of energy burst up throughout him. His leg began shaking. His ears began twitching. He felt as if he could move a mountain. "Wow, Hunter, this stuff really works!" His wings began spreading. He didn't even notice, though. He accidentally whacks Cynder with one, who complains,

"Spyro, your wings… they're…" she can't really explain it. "Just look at them." Spyro took a look at his wings. He tried to suppress them but failed miserably. They extended completely, causing Hunter to have to duck. "Spyro, watch where you put those things!"

"Hey, it's your drink, tone it down a bit for next time!" Spyro retorted. Hunter remained silent, knowing he had no chance here. "I'll be back." Spyro said, heading toward the door. The others, especially Cynder, understood. Spyro walked out of the building, and spread his wings. When he took off, he went faster than he ever had before. He flew over a cheetah village and decided to do aerial flips and tricks to entertain the cheetahs. He couldn't hear them, but he could swear he saw a few cheetahs pointing exitedly.

"You like the attention, don't you." Spyro almost dropped out of the sky in shock when he heard that voice. It was the one from his dreams. Spyro decided that if darkness was gonna take him over now, he wouldn't want to be over the cheetah village. He used his extra energy to fly far away from the village. He ended up flying into a cave in the side of a mountain. It was a nice, dimly lit cave. But he knew he may have the fight of his life here, even if it wasn't physical. "The Dark Master will live on…" the voice did a devilish laugh and Spyro suddenly felt a wave of pain and dizziness pull him to the ground. He struggled to keep his balance, and couldn't. He fell to the ground, gasping for air. It was as if his windpipes were blocked by something. He struggled for breath, and couldn't get anything into his windpipe. His head turned red, then blue, then an odd shade of purple, and he passed out. The last thing he heard before he did was that deep, throaty laugh.

Spyro awoke, gasping for breath. He was in a dark forest, which smelled highly of smoke. He looked down at the ground to find the horrid third-person view again. This time, he was watching the dark-purple white-eyed version of him fly out of the cave, toward the cheetah village. He just sat and stared, sadly, knowing what was about to happen. Noticing Spyro's sadness, the voice chimed in to make it worse.

"Oh, this is only the beginning. Soon, I… or you… will gather up the remaining apes left from the war, and maybe take a few hostages, and take control of… well… everything!" The voice faded away to leave Spyro still watching his real-life actions. The figure of him flew over the cheetah village he had recently passed and blew a few fireballs at it. The village immidietly burst into flames.

"No… NO…" Spyro began sobbing. "Why are you doing this!?" He saw innocent cheetahs being burned in the fire, even young ones. At least a quarter of the village was dead now, but the figure of him just kept burning up the village. The cheetahs would shoot arrows at him, but he would catch them and throw them back, stabbing them in vital areas, such as the chest, throat, and head. They would fall to the ground, bloody and suffering. This went on for awhile, until Spyro couldn't take it anymore.

"When I get my claws on you, I'm gonna-" he cut off as he was held in midair by his throat. It seemed as if it was an invisible hand or something. He couldn't breathe, so he squirmed. The 'hand' wouldn't budge. He fought for breath, the hand squeezing tighter each time he managed to breathe.

"I think he's waking up!" Spyro heard the sound of bows being pulled, ready to fire, most likely pointed toward him. He slowly opened his eyes to an arrow pointed at his face, ready to fire. A bunch more were surrounding him.

"Okay, here's what you're gonna do." The voice was coming from a deep, angry male voice. Prowlus. "You're gonna get up, and slowly walk to that wall. Once you're there, you're gonna be tied up, and if you try to resist, stuff's gonna happen, okay? If you don't resist, no pain will be involved." Spyro knew he could wipe the floor with these guys easily, but seeing what just happened, they were the good guys here, so he decided to give them the comfort of tying him up. He slowly got up, the arrow tips following him, and walked with the group to the wall. Once there, he turned around, and two cheetahs grabbed his arms and bound them to the wall. Next came his legs and neck, and to make the chance to escape, weights were put on his wings. Once done, the cheetahs just stood there, admiring their work. Prowlus picked up an arrow, and said,

"You're gonna answer my questions. If you lie or don't answer them at all, this arrow meets your flesh. Got it?" Spyro gulped and nodded. Clearly they were uninformed about his current situation. He decided to try to tell them.

"You know, I-" Prowlus walked up to him, and pressed the arrow to Spyro's neck.

"Also, you don't talk unless questioned. Lets begin. Question one. Why did you do it? Why would you burn a village you worked so hard to save!?" Spyro shook his head. They didn't let him finish his sentence.

"It wasn't me."

"Lies." Prowlus slowly drove the tip of the arrow into Spyro's stomach, making him grunt as it went deeper. Prowlus pulled the now bloody arrow out quickly, making him roar in dizzying pain. The area around where the arrow was driven in was now bloody, blood dripping to the ground. "Please… get Hunter… he'll explain… everything…" Prowlus looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Somebody get Hunter. I'll keep an eye on this demon."

"I'm not kidding, it wasn't…" he gasped as the blade was driven through his wing, making a tear. The wings are one of the rather sensitive parts of a dragon's body, so it hurt extra.

"Don't speak unless spoken to." Spyro hated Prowlus right now more than ever, but he had to spare him some because Spyro could see why these actions were taking place. Spyro probably wouldn't have been so cruel, but everybody has a different way of dealing with things.

"Prowlus! It's okay! Don't hurt him no more!" Hunter's accented voice ran through the village.

"Okay, then explain what just happened." Hunter had been told what had happened earlier, and on the way he thought of what to say. He explained the whole situation, and why each thing happened as it did. Once done, Prowlus unbound Spyro, causing him to fall to the ground. He was dizzy from both pain and blood loss.

"Well, could you at least get someone to help me carry him? He's kind of heavy." Prowlus shouted out some orders, and three cheetahs ran over to help. Once they had Spyro up high and easy enough to carry, they set off, very slowly so Spyro wouldn't fall out of their grip.

**For those who said they wanted longer chapters, is this better? Or do you want it longer? Not trying to sound angry or anything, just wondering. By the way, I like a review for each chapter if that's possible. Thx! Also, sry about the line spacing. I don't know whats up with that. Hopefully you can decipher the difference between paragraph spacing and return hits. I am in need of an editor/proofreader. Know anyone? If you post them in the reviews, this story might just get better.**

**See ya brohams!**


	3. Chapter 3: The Cracks

**I don't know when, but I'm gonna be releasing a somewhat-humorous one-shot soon. I know the last few chapters felt a bit rushed, because they were. I'll try to do better this time. Without further ado,**

**Let's go bro's , broski's, bro-ha's, and bro-ham's!**

Spyro did his best to stay councious on the trip back, and succeeded. At one point, he offered to get up and walk on his own, but Hunter disagreed and said, "No. Not until we get those wounds patched up, you won't." His voice sounded stern and somewhat angry, so Spyro decided to keep his mouth shut for the rest of the trip. Or, at least try. Since the energy drink was still somewhat fresh in him, it was hard to stop the occasional ear flick or foot twitch. Eventually, one of the cheetahs got sick of it, and held his foot in place. Since he was now only holding Spyro with one paw, that added a bunch of weight onto the others to keep Spyro upright. A few minutes after that, one of the rather slender-looking cheetahs let go, causing the others to bear too much weight, and most of them letting go as well. Spyro crashed to the ground. He let out a cracked "Ow," but since he was a tough one, he mainly said it only because he thought it was going to hurt. Luckily, he landed in one of the only grass patches there. The rest of the terrain consisted of mainly highly-packed dirt or rock face. Spyro ignored the cheetahs trying to help him up and got up on his own four paws. Luckily, since the cuts weren't located on his legs, he got little to no pain each step he took.

"You gonna be okay for the trip back?" Spyro would have cut Hunter off mid-sentence, but he sensed that Hunter was somewhat agitated and mainly sad from knowledge of the events that took place, and Spyro didn't want to make it worse.

"Yes, Hunter, I'll be fine. You can tell these guys they can go ho-" Hunter cut him off.

"They're staying here, because if you collapse or something on the trip back and they're gone, I'm leaving you were you lay." His growling voice made Spyro shut up immidietly. He had never seen Hunter this angry before, or at least towards him. They walked in silence for the rest of the trip, not looking at each other once. Hunter had every right to be mad at him, and Spyro had no right to be mad at anyone but the Dark Master.. It began to rain, but when Spyro went to cover from it with his wings, a bit of rain seeped through where the arrow had gone through. A ping of sadness went through him, joining the millions of other pings of sadness that made up his life.

By the time they got back, it was pitch black out. Hunter offered for the cheetahs to stay the night, but they refused the offer, backing away. One of them whispered something into Hunter's ear, their eyes darting toward Spyro. Hunter nodded his head and the cheetahs dropped onto all fours, running into the night. Spyro yawned as he watched them disappear into the shadows of the trees. He trudged through the temple, hardly acknowledging the fact that he was getting startled looks from Cynder and the guardians. When he got to his room, he blindly collapsed onto the cushion in the center of his room. He hardly slept in it, because he preferred sleeping on the floor. He opened his eyes, and looked into the cracked mirror. Seven years of bad luck. Wonder what'll come next. When he looked in the mirror, he saw this… matte black and scarred… if you can even call it a face. He jumped in shock, sending his horns through the wooden ceiling. After a short tussle, he got them out of the newly-made holes. "There's no way I'm licking all that off myself. And, it's to dark out to go to the river, so I guess I'll have to sleep like this." He muttered the last sentence. Just then, Volteer knocked on the door. "Come in." Spyro said.

"You can't go to sleep just yet, remember, we're gonna have to bound you." Volteer had a somewhat cheerful tone, he must've not heard the news.

"Hunter'll tell you right now that being bound won't do anything." Spyro said.

"What do you mean?" Volteer asked. Spyro began to get agitated.

_Let it all out on him, give him a piece of your mind…_

"What do I mean!? I mean I just burned a whole village full of innocents, that's what I mean!"

_Yes, let the anger take over…_

Spyro turned around, eyes glowing, and said, "And don't remind me of it!" His voice was scratchy and deep. The look of fear on Volteer's face made Spyro realize what he was doing, and he snapped out of it. His eyes returned to normal. Volteer was backing out of the room. "Volteer, I'm sorry." Spyro walked toward him. Volteer sped up.

"You… you're not the Spyro I knew before the war. Y-you…" he trailed off and ran out of the room.

Minutes later, Cynder walked into Spyro's room to find him curled up and sobbing in a corner.

"Spyro?"

"It's getting to me."

"Whats getting to-" then she realized. She hesitated for a brief moment, and slowly walked forward to where Spyro was.

"Get away from me. I'm a monster." He said in a sad tone.

"No, Spyro, I can't stand to see you like this." She inched closer, but it backfired. Spyro whipped around, eyes a pure glowing white, and growled,

"I SAID, LEAVE ME ALONE!" Cynder jumped back in surprise, but stood her ground from where she landed.

_Yes, let it all out, you know you want to…_

Spyro leapt at Cynder, who swiftly rolled out of the way. Taking advantage of the moment, Cynder leapt onto Spyro's back, having little to no effect. While Cynder may be swifter and faster than Spyro, Spyro was much stronger. He jumped onto his hind legs, and fell backwards, somewhat crushing Cynder. She had tried to hold off, but now there was no way out other than to do it. She used fear breath on Spyro before she passed out from air loss. Spyro immidietly stiffened and rolled off of Cynder. He clutched his head as horrible memories flooded through him, consisting mainly of Ignitus's death. The breath Cynder had shot was weak enough so he wouldn't fall uncouncious, because she knew what would happen then. She had only breathed enough to strike enough fear in him to make him immobile. Meanwhile, the guardians had heard a muffled version of the ruckus and thought nothing of it, but the sudden silence struck them coldly. They walked toward Spyro's room, and Terrador yelled out, "You two okay in there?" When they got no response, the guardians burst in to find a sight that only Volteer could have expected.

Volteer turned to Cyril.

"See, I told you, but you wouldn't listen!" Volteer said with an edgy tone.

"Volteer, now's not the time for that," Cyril replied, "We need to help Cynder, nevertheless Spyro!" Terrador was already in the room, checking Cynder's breathing while Spyro lay on the ground, clutching his head. Despite that, he did not appear to be in pain.

"You guys can take your time." Terrador said in a sarcastic tone, still checking over Cynder. Volteer and Cyril stopped arguing and ran into the room.

They walked over to Spyro. Cyril sat closer to him then Volteer, not having experienced Spyro's terrors yet.

"No… no! I-Ignitus… he's… gone…" Spyro's saddened voice ran throughout the room.

"What… happened in here?" Cyril said in a confused tone. Silence was his reply, other than a few sobs from Spyro. "Even you don't have an answer to this one, Volteer?" Volteer shook his head solemnly.

"We'll ask Cynder when she wakes up." Terrador half-announced. "For now, keep a close watch of Spyro."

"Me!? Why don't [you] watch him?" Volteer asked in a frightened tone.

Seeing this, Terrador spoke up. "Relax, Volteer, from what I'm seeing, nothing's happening too soon. But, if you're really [that] scared, I'll take your place, as long as you take care of Cynder." Volteer happily leapt up and took Terrador's place. He picked up Cynder and walked out of the room with her on his back, slowly, to make sure her limp, unconscious body didn't slide off accidentally. He didn't need to take her out of the room to treat her of her injuries, but decided it would be safer being in a room without Spyro.

All of his bad memories morphed into one combined with the terrors of the Dark Master was enough to make a 15-year-old dragon that hasn't cried since he was 5 bawl his eyes out. He was seeing half-second flashes of images such as Ignitus dying, Spyro himself deliberately hurting Cynder, a burning village with innocent cheetahs dying such as mothers and young ones, and many more. In reality, Cyril and Terrador were trying to calm him, but the rubbing of his back and the soft words were not being acknowledged in Spyro's dream. Even though his body may be conscious, from what he was seeing it was all just a bad dream. Except, about a hundred times worse, because he could actually physically feel the events happening from the most painful point of view possible. This was the Dark Master's doing. His plan is to get Spyro to crack mentally enough that the evil will lurk into him, under the Dark Master's control. He hadn't thought of what would come next, though. But, he hadn't even gotten past phase one yet.

_Yes, Spyro, let the darkness soothe you… darkness and evil are two different things…_

Spyro refused to give in, knowing that if he did, there would only be worse memories to come. He knew that the Dark Master couldn't make it worse for him; these were all of the worst memories he had. He knew he had to hang on for a bit longer.

**Yes, I know this was a bit shorter than the last chapter, but at least it's not like the first. The story's getting a bit darker, eh? Tell me if you like this cuz I can get as dark as fanfiction allows. Also, should I put the phrase, 'the guardians,' with capital first letters from not on? Would that be proper grammar?**

**(Evil laugh) ~MonstaWolf**


	4. Chapter 4: The Blamed

**Mph. I have statewide testing for like 4 weeks, so sorry if the next few chapters aren't all dat good. Yet again, (deep breath)**

**Here we go.**

The Dark Master was beginning to become impatient. He wanted his playpuppet [now.] But he knew that if he increased the power of fear on Spyro, he could possibly corrupt Spyro in a way that wouldn't help anyone, including him. He had to continue with the mindplay until Spyro cracked in the way that would allow him to be controlled. While he tried to shove more bad memories into the teenage dragon's head, including past nightmares the purple dragon had witnessed before he was half-corrupted, he figured that he should also take memories that would make the dragon angry. Since he was still a teenager, when he got angry, his hormonal response would make him about five times as angry, and more likely to take action because of it. Then, when he later regretted his actions, the anger and wave of sadness would combine. That wouldn't just crack Spyro, it would [shatter] him. He would be completely be vulnerable to the darkness, pretty much unable to make his own decision at all. He would be under total control of the Dark Master. They would merely switch places. Spyro would be the ghost, while the Dark Master takes control. Knowing the power of the new purple dragon, and seeing what he could destroy with control of the body for a mere 30 seconds, he knew the world would be his in no time. But he shouldn't even be thinking about that yet, because Spyro didn't seem to be even close to his limit.

Cynder awoke in a very brightly-lit room. She blinked and squinted as her eyes adjusted to what seemed like a blinding light. She noticed no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop squinting.

_What the…?_

She turned her head a bit to the left, and found that she had been looking through a window, her line of sight heading straight toward the sun.

_Oh, that explains it._

When she looked to the right, Cynder saw Volteer, sleeping in an uncomfortable position. He must have just dozed off while testing some sort of crazy theroy of his. He does that a lot, he'll stay up at night until he eventually just drifts off, and then sleeps all morning. Cynder decided to rest until he woke up, just to get the a-okay that it was safe for her to get up. Laying there with nothing to do, she decided to attempt to remember what happened. When it came to her, her mood darkened, with both anger and worry. She knew she couldn't be mad at Spyro, as it was not his fault, but still… she felt anger bubbling up inside her at Spyro's actions. It was okay to not _always_ shake off anger, right? She didn't want to let him have it, but who else could he direct her anger to? The Guardians? Sparx? Hunter? They had nothing to do with it. She remembered that she had used fear on him, which was nearly [too] powerful when used correctly. Even though it was a weak shot, it had been used in a way that would give him enough horrific thoughts to be immobilized for hours, maybe even a day or so.

"I wonder what's going through that dragon's head that would be terrifying enough to put him in a state like this." Ever since the incident, Terrador and Cyril had been taking turns with shifts watching Spyro. It had been about 5 hours since the event happened. At this time, though, both felt like watching the Purple Dragon, and talking about the whole 'tragedy.' While Volteer was the only dragon that could possibly come up with a solution, it was at least worth talking about it. After all, while it may not be the right word to use when discussing the Dark Master, but it was actually quite interesting to talk about.

"Probably some stuff from the war, some of his greatest fears, and other random junk that would make anyone scared. What's worse though, is the Dark master is probably helping the sights get to his head." Cyril finished his statement, leaving Terrador frozen in thought. It was Cyril's turn to ask a question. "I wonder if the Dark Master was controlling Spyro when he attacked Cynder, or if Spyro was just under his influence. If he was only under influence, that would change the way I look at him completely. What about you?"

"I believe he was under the influence," Terrador stated. "But it still isn't the same Spyro. Not the one that we know. As you know, since he's still not fully grown, he can be easily influenced. Don't let this change how you view him. You know he wouldn't act like this. It's just not him."

"I suppose you're right." Cyril backed down.

_Come on, Spyro. You can do it. You just have to let go, relax. Imagine, you could have anything you could ever possibly want…_

"I… have… everything… I… want… r-right… here…" Spyro refused promptly.

_You have nothing. The only dragon your age right now, who happens to be female, hates you. Your so-called 'father' is dead. You may be famous, but that's only because the moles and cheetahs are scared of you. And, did I mention, the cheetahs hate you, too. One out of the three adults in your 'family' is scared of you, and one is on the brink of hating you, who will soon influence the other to do so too. Face it, your life is over. Now let the darkness in your blood flow to it's full potential. Only you can end this madness_.

"I'd rather die then join you."

_Oh, that'll make it even easier on me. With you gone, I can just heal your body and take control. You'll never win. Where there is light, there will always be darkness._ With that, the sights only got worse. _Just give in now, and the pain will end. Heck, you can even see Ignitus._ Despite the pain he was feeling and the sights he was seeing, he could still hear a little tremble in the voice.

"You're lying. I'll never give in. You can up the pressure all you want, and it'll never work. Whatever you're trying to do to me, I've been through worse. So keep going. I dare you." As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a faint, cracked hiss. Then, in less than a split-second, he went from seeing his worse nightmares to reality. Man, did it feel good to actually have a floor that he could touch without sinking into it, lava on the other side. He ran his paw over the rocky surface of it. Then the after-effects kicked in. Spyro's whole body felt numb from not moving for so long, and he felt a wave of nausea overtake him. This was not going to be a very pleasant rest of the day.

Cynder began to grow impatient as time passed. She felt fine, but Volteer hadn't even began to stir. Wanting to make sure to get a thumbs-up from Volteer that she was good to go, she purposefully made involuntary noises such as coughing, clearing her throat, and that little vocal-thing you sometimes get when you yawn. She was able to get Volteer to snort and roll over, but it wasn't enough to wake him up. She eventually gave up, because she knew if she _did_ wake him up, he would be kinda moody for the rest of the day. She decided to just get up and check herself for injury. She kind of jumped and rolled over, so it would end with her landing on her feet. She walked over-so-slowly past Volteer, but the _click_-_clack_ of her claws on the stone floor weren't helping at all. Especially with the echo of the cave. When she was close to the exit of the room, Volteer yawned and cracked an eye open. He scanned the room until his eyesight hit Cynder. "Ah," he said, with that scratchy morning voice you get when you first wake up. "I see that you're awake." Cynder, knowing where this was going, tried to turn the subject around and said,

"More like _you're_ awake." She had a false smile on her face. Volteer could sense what she was trying to do.

"Don't worry, you're free to go if you want. You don't have any injuries, although, make sure to watch that leg when you walk." He used his tail to point to her left foreleg. Cynder stood there, stunned, wondering how he knew that she had already remembered what happened. That was something to think about later, as she had more important things to tend to now. She scurried out of the room.

Terrador noticed that Spyro stopped clutching his head from the corner of his eye. He then whispered, "Cyril, get up… slowly." Cyril did as he was told, mainly because of the deep tone Terrador was using. Terrador slowly walked toward Spyro, beckoning Cyril to do the same. Cyril followed, and the two dragons went on either side of Spyro. Cautiously, Terrador checked that Spyro's eyes were open, and sure enough, they were. Refusing to acknowledge the fact that there were two dragons looking him over, Spyro got up slowly, seemingly uninjured, and tried to walk toward the door. Cyril stepped in his way, and said in a firm tone of voice,

"You're not going anywhere, not after what you just did. Not for awhile. We're gonna ask Cynder what happened, and until then, you're going to stay put whether you like it or not." Cyril clearly restated the questions given by Terrador. "Oh, look, there she is now." Cynder burst into the room, if that was even possible without a door, and looked straight at Spyro.

"Are you-" Cynder was cut off by Terrador. "He's fine. We should really be asking you that question, but it seems like you've answered that one yourself. Now tell me, what are the course of events that followed after you entered the room?"

"Well, when I entered, Spyro was curled up in the corner of the room. I asked him if he was okay, and he said… let's see if I can get this right… he said, 'It's getting to me. I'm a monster. Leave me alone.' When I asked him again, he yelled at me to leave him alone, and then turned around and leapt at me. We fought, and it ended up being he was on top of me, and I couldn't breathe. The last thing I did before I passed out was spit a little fear into him." The others looked stunned, Volteer had walked in inaudibly during the story, and he was the only one that didn't seem shocked, but rather angry toward Spyro. He asked Cynder a question that seemed rather important.

"Cynder, was Spyro awake the entire time, or… let me rephrase that… did he seem _dark_, if you know what I mean, the entire time? Or just when he leapt at you?"

"He only seemed to be evil when he leapt on me, not really before. He wasn't asleep the entire time I was in the room, and seemed like his normal self before he started trying to fight." Terrador's look changed as he turned toward Spyro. The switch from light to dark seemed fake, but what happened after wasn't. Terrador was furious.

"So it _was_ you. You've been agreeing with what the Dark Master's been telling you, haven't you!? You partially agreed to attack Cynder! Spyro, I don't know what has gotten into you!"

_The Darkness has,_ Spyro thought, but did not dare to speak. "I'm sorry, but it's just not safe having you around here anymore. If the other's agree, you're being sent to the most high-security prison in this realm - Whutchenhal." (Pronounced 'wOOt-chan-hal) **Couldn't think of a good name XD tell me if you have suggestions.**

Spyro began backing up into a corner. Whutchenhal was the most brutal prison out there. With no way out physically, the only possible way to escape is death - natural death, death delivered from fellow inmates, or death by sickness. Even though dragons are known to be practically invulnerable to sickness, it has been told that dragons become sick as often as cheetahs in there. While it seems high-tech and sanitary from the outside, the inside is really a concrete jungle with rotting bodies littering the floor. Spyro hoped those rumors weren't true. "I think he should go." Cyril muttered quietly. So what he had said earlier to Terrador _was_ true. Cynder looked at Spyro, hesitated for a moment, and said, "I, um… I… think it would be better for… everyone… including Spyro." Spyro was hurt internally when he heard that Cynder wanted him in jail, too. Terrador, seemingly outnumbered, just did a satisfactory grunt. Spyro, knowing what may happen next, decided to take the risk of cutting himself and smashed through the window behind him. He was leaving a falling trail of blood behind him. He didn't feel the cuts now, but sure would later. With his early start against the others, he was actually able to gain a good enough distance from them. He dove down into a deep forest, where they would never find him.

Spyro sat where he landed, tired and weak. He felt the darkness creeping up on him, although there was nothing physically moving around him.

_Seems like I'm your companion now…_

**Hey peeps! Hope you liked my newest chapter. Few things to mention:**

**-Have I been calling Cyril a girl in previous chapters? Sorry if I have, it's just when I first heard the name I thought Cyril was female, and it just stuck.**

**-I will bring back Sparx in later chapters. It's just… his attitude ruins the mood of the story.**

**-If you see any words marked like [this,] please tell me. I put that there for editing purposes (loooonnnngggg story) and sometimes miss them during the editing process. Lets just say this is like the… Halo Reach Beta. (Look up Halo Reach Beta glitches XD itz hilarious.)**

**Bye! (For lack of a better conclusion.) ~MonstaWolf**


	5. Chapter 5: The Wanted

**Guess what? Good news. I have a beta reader now, but (he or she, I haven't asked yet :P) is having some bad weather which is including power loss. (I think) The rest will hopefully be edited. The thing is, though, they will take longer to publish. Still, it's worth the extra time, right? Anyways, after a long wait (yyyeeeaaahhh, sry bout that. busy week), enjoy the chapter!**

**Lets do dis bros!**

_I guess there's no going back, _Spyro thought to himself, _not with them wanting me to go to prison. Although I may gain some rep there just for being me… ugh, what am I thinking! I cant do that! I've already been through a war, and while prison is probably much less brutal in some ways… it's more brutal in others._ Spyro shuddered at the thought. _The Guardians probably warning everyone to 'Be cautious of The Purple Dragon! He's turned somewhat dangerous and is on the loose!' I guess… there's no turning back. No going back to the way it was before. I could live the rest of my life hiding, or spend it in a brutal prison. Well, they said the prison is only temporary. Still… I cant go in there. I guess I could change my looks and identity completely… no, what would be the point of that? Plus, it would be really hard…_ Spyro shook himself out of his thoughts. How long had he been standing there for? Minutes? Hours? His stomach growled. _Well, I guess it's time to eat, once I catch it._ Spyro's hunting skills were a bit rusty, especially ever since the deli opened in the cheetah village. There, Spyro would pay in gems to get food that was already caught, killed, and, if he payed a bit extra, pre-heated! While he forgot many of his hunting tricks, he still remembered the basics. He was about to take to the sky a bit so he could look down at the forest, but stopped himself. If he flew out of the forest, his cover from the trees would be lost, and he could be seen!

_Great. Now where am I supposed to get food?_ Spyro tried hunting for hours but had no luck. Little did he know that the prey could smell him from many feet away. He collapsed by a tree, exhausted, and decided to rest. Despite the fact that it was dark out, sleep didn't come easy for him. He ended up moving around for an hour until he found a comfortable position. When he did, it took him another hour to fall asleep. When he did, he had no dreams whatsoever. Finally, a peaceful sleep. What he didn't know, was, this was all falling into place according to the Dark Master's 'plan.' He would wake the next day to find himself starving.

"…and he just got angry and, well, ran away." Cyril finished explaining to Volteer, who had been asleep in his room at the time Spyro flew away.

"So you're telling me, you _lost_ The Purple Dragon? How do you _lose_ The Purple Dragon!?"

"Well, he kind of got a head sta-"

"You all are faster than him, especially you, Cynder," he glared at her. "You can use your wind abilities to go very fast, much faster than Spyro, and a much longer distance. You know that."

"You didn't let me finish," Cyril stated with an edge in his tone. "A few minutes after we started chasing him, we saw him dive down into a thick forest. We checked where we thought he had landed, and he wasn't there. We searched around that area a bit, but couldn't find him. It began to grow dark out, so we decided to head back." Volteer, still waking up, was still trying to interpret the fact that Spyro was missing. He looked out the window, and it was still pitch black out. They must've just came in.

"Okay, um… we'll sleep on it tonight, and tomorrow we'll do an all-out search for him. Maybe even go around warning some citizens of Warfang, Dragon City, and Avalar. We'll tell them to keep an eye out for The Purple Dragon, and to tell us if they see him."

"Can you please stop calling him 'The Purple Dragon?'" Cynder said ever-so-quietly. She looked as if she had been crying. "I mean, I know that's what he is, b-but it makes him sound like an experiment. Call him by his real name, _Spyro._" Volteer nodded his head, meaning he understood. He knew what Cynder was going through. Had he even heard what she said before he put the world back together? If he had, did the darkness make him ignore it? And, to top it all off, the dragon she loves is now technically a wanted criminal. What could be worse, other than death? As if she knew what Volteer was thinking, Cynder fast-walked out of the room, looking ready to burst into tears. Terrador whispered something to Volteer and Cyril, then departed out of the room himself. He heard sobbing coming from the room that Spyro was supposed to occupy. He slowly walked toward it, and peeked in. Cynder was lying on the 'bed' that Spyro didn't really use, and was holding a section of it close to her chest.

Spyro jerked awake to his stomach growling again. Hunger doesn't just affect your stomach; the feeling courses through and weakens your entire body. The Dark Master's voice rang through his head. _You know that deli you love so much? You could get some from there._

"What do you mean? I can't-"

_I don't mean buy it. You could just take it._ Spyro was about to say no, until another hunger pang struck him. He let out a deep breath, and said,

"Just this once." He then dicovered he was too weak to stand up. _When did I last eat?_ He thought to himself. _A few days ago. Now come on, you little weakling, you've survived three years without eating before!_ Spyro was about to say, 'That was different,' but suddenly realized that The Dark Master could read his thoughts. How much more did he not know? He forced himself to stand up, and did it successfully but shakily. He looked around, wondering which direction he should take. _Which way's Avalar?_ he kept trying to figure out which direction it was in, but gave up. _Ahh, screw it._ He leaped into mid-air and flapped his wings. It sure felt good to be able to do that again, despite the hunger gnawing at him. Once he got above the trees, he slowed down his flapping so he could hover. He looked around, looking for a familiar landmark. Instead, to his luck, he found that he was close to one of the cheetah villages, the one that contained his favorite deli. As he is only a teenager, he can only hover for so long, so he dove back down into the trees. Now that he knew where his target was, he began to walk towards it. On the way, he actually kind-of discussed what he would do with The Dark Master. As time passed, Spyro grew more hungry, and Spyro agreed to deeper and darker things to find food. By the time they got there, Spyro had agreed to just burst in, knock out everyone who stood in his way, take as much food as he can, and run. After all, it seemed that the only one who he could trust to not put him in jail was The Dark Master. Spyro got ready to burst in, deciding to do it before he got any second thoughts. He burst in through the trees, straight toward the deli. He used a move he used to use back when he was younger; back even before he defeated Cynder at Convexity. He looked down, so his spiked horns would face forward, and sprinted straight at the deli. Still keeping his head in the same position, he did the best he could to look forward. He could only see up to the cheetah's thighs, but he could tell they were running away from his bound path. He burst through the wood, which was harder than he thought it would be, but he shook off the little bit of pain he took and stopped running when he was in the middle of the deli, and panicked, knowing he had to act fast. There would be reinforcement cheetahs any moment. He grabbed all the meat he could, raw or cooked, and jumped through the window, ending up in back of the small building. He tried to take to the skies, but his load was too heavy. He dropped a few items, which ended up being half of them, and took to the skies, just in time. He looked back to see a group of cheetahs shooting arrows at him, and missing. Y_es! Hah, retarded cheetahs! Wait, what am I thinking? I don't hate the cheetahs, I'm simply doing this to survive! Is the real me… changing? What's happening to me...?_

"I hope he's… *sniff* okay." It took awhile, but Terrador was able to get Cynder to calm down a bit. She had been bawling for awhile about Spyro, and expressed her feelings for The Dark Master in words that would change the rating of this story. Terrador had softened her down to soft sniffles after an hour of rubbing her back and telling her 'It'll be okay.' Once she was settled down, Terrador said to her, "If you really want to find Spyro, laying here weeping about it won't help at all. We have to go out there and _find_ him. Cyril and Volteer are already on a search, and we'll find him faster if we got out there ourselves." Cynder nodded, and they headed toward the exit of the temple. They stopped right before they took off because they noticed Cyril flying towards them. They shuffled to the side a bit to make room for him lo land. He began talking as fast as he could even before he touched down.

"I saw Spyro," He said in between breaths, "he just attacked a cheetah village… well, not the whole village… perhaps just the deli, for food… but me and Volteer couldn't catch him. He was in and out in under five seconds. He stole tons of food. We need to stop him before it gets worse!" Cynder looked thoughtful for a moment, sniffled, and said,

"If he really has fallen to The Dark Master, I can try to coax him over to me, from a distance," she shuddered as she remembered what happened last time she went right up to him, "and maybe use a bit of poison to keep him out cold for a bit, _without_ waking up unexpectedly." Now it was the others' turn to shudder.

"And once we do that, what will we do with him?" Terrador spoke up. "We've seen what he can do, and I'm pretty sure some iron bars can't-" Cyril cut him off.

"The prison he's going to is specialized for situations like this. They'll drain out his powers, and bound him by a chain that'll shock him if he tampers with it." Cynder just had to look away. Terrador saw this and ran his tail up and down her back to keep her from sobbing. This whole event was having a big effect on her. Now it was Cyril's turn to ask a question. He cupped a paw around her mouth so Cynder wouldn't hear or 'mouth-read,' and whispered very softly,

"How's she holding up?" Terrador gave Cyril a 'Not too bad' sign with his paws, and said in a somewhat loud, booming but joking-around sort-of tone, "Are we going to just sit around here, or are we going to set out and find Spyro the dragon!?" Cynder laughed.

"Terrador, you sound retarded. Come on, let's go." Terrador made a fake sad face and then took to the skies, the others following closely behind him. Cyril flew faster until he popped out in front. "Let me lead the way!" He had to yell over the battering sound of the wind. "I can take you to the cheetah village where Volteer and the ones who got attacked are! Follow me!" He dove to the left, and the others followed. After a short flight, they arrived to the cheetah village. There were a few angry-looking cheetahs standing by a half-destroyed building. Volteer was standing by it as well, out of breath. He looked like he had just sprinted a marathon. Cyril touched town first, followed by Cynder and Terrador.

"Well, it's not as bad looking as I thought it would be." Terrador said to no one in particular, and let out a nervous laugh right after. He turned to the nearest cheetah and said, "So, tell me exactly, what happened here?"

"I don't really know," the cheetah replied, "I wasn't there at the time of the attack. From what I heard, though, was that a purple dragon, who appeared to be none other than Spyro, burst through the forest line" -he pointed toward the only opening to the forest in the whole village- "and rammed straight into the deli, grabbed a bunch of meat, and flew away."

"Do you know the direction he flew away to?"

"Yeah, over there." The cheetah pointed toward a big open area surrounded by a river and trees. If he had the time, Terrador would've just sat there and admired the area's beauty. But there was no time for that. They had to find Spyro, and [fast.] Terrador rounded up Cynder, Cyril, and Volteer, and told them that they should be on their way, and that he would explain what he had heard on the way. Or, at least to Cynder, because Cyril had actually seen the event take place and had probably told Volteer about it, because he hadn't actually been there to witness it. The four dragons set off, cheetahs watching them until they were out of sight.

Meanwhile, Spyro had landed atop a far-off mountain that he figured nobody would bother look if they were looking for him. The guardians knew he hated mountains, which he did, but it was better than going to prison. He had eaten about half the food he had gotten, and decided to save the rest for later. _Hmm… let's find a safe spot to bury these… wait… it's all snow and stone up here! Crap! I guess… I have to eat the rest then…_ Spyro licked his lips and went to work. He was done in about two minutes, with nothing but a few crumbs left over. The Dark Master's voice ruined the good, full feeling he got when he was done. _You idiot! That was all of our food!_

"Correction: _my_ food."

The Dark Master ignored that comment. _You're supposed to save it for later!_

"And how would I do that?"

_Bury it, retard!_

"There _is_ nowhere to bury it. I don't think the snow would protect it, and the rest is just rock!"

_Well, it's gonna be hard to find any more food! You-_

"There's many other places with food." Knowing that he couldn't win, Spyro didn't hear the Dark Master argue for another hour. Looks like Spyro had won this one.

Later on, it had turned dark out and Spyro had decided to just curl up in a ball and face the cold like a dragon. Falling asleep would be the real challenge here. Along with the sub-zero temperatures at the top of the mountain, slope, the texture of the rock, and wind also affected his ability to sleep. He was in that state in between exhaustion and bad conditions, when you can't go to sleep but could if the conditions were better. He yawned and tried to force himself to sleep, but couldn't. He lay there the whole night just thinking about life and having deep, dark conversations with the Dark Master.

**So, how'd you like it? My new editor is having some bad weather, and hopefully the next chapter'll be edited. Also, once again, tell me if you see any errors or words [like this.] Later bros!**

**_~MonstaWolf_**


	6. Chapter 6: The Alliance

**Hey guys! Sry for being sooo late, its a long and stressful story. Also, I have a user to definitely thank for supporting me. You probably already know him for his famous (to us readers) story, Mistreated. It's htffan951! (Yes, I purposefully put a lowercase letter, that's how his actual username is.) He's given me ideas (such as this chapter, sort of), and supported me in many ways. If you haven't checked out Mistreated yet, give it a chance after this chapter! You won't regret it. Sadly, from what I heard he stopped writing stories, please correct me if I'm wrong httfan. (I didn't tell him about this before I posted it XD don't start spamming his PM please he would hate me XD)**

**Letz do dis!**

Spyro woke up, still in that state when you don't exactly realize you're awake and you keep your eyes closed, even though you're awake. When he heard crackling, he decided it would be safe to stay 'asleep' just incase there was anyone around him. It was easy not to move or open his eyes, but yet it was hard because many thoughts were running through his head all at once. _What is that noise? Could there be someone else around here? Am I just going insane and hearing things? Wait… I feel warm… maybe I should open my eyes just a crack. _It felt as if his eyes were glued together; it took all his will power that he had left to open them. When he did, he tried to not make the slightest noise as he looked around the room. He saw a campfire next to him, which explained the warmth and the noise, but the question was, who started the fire? He was surely still on top of the mountain, and it was still dark out. If he wanted to go look for the creature, he would have the advantage of night by his side. Plus, he was purple, so if he could stay out of the moonlight to keep them from glittering, he would never be seen. _Glittering scales. I know the Purple Dragon is an important title and all, but did it have to be purple?_ He shook himself out of his unimportant thoughts and knew he had to concentrate. He could worry about the fact that he didn't like his scale colors later; now he had more reasonable things to focus on at the moment. He slowly and carefully got up, making sure to not make any noise. He slowly began to walk away, when he tripped over something that seemed to be a little bigger than him. He got up and turned around to see what it was, and noticed that there was a bright green dragon lying on the ground, seemingly asleep. It seemed uncomfortable, as the fire melted a lot of the snow down to where it wasn't there anymore, and the dragon was left sleeping on a rock. Spyro realized he had been sleeping on the rock, too. _Wonder how I managed that. _He decided to rest until morning, knowing this dragon probably meant no harm. He slumped down where he had woken up, and almost immediately fell back to sleep, with a few pleasant dreams.

The next morning, Spyro awoke with a start, eyes wide. It took him a minute to realize where he was, and it all suddenly rushed to his head. He was still lying on the ground, tired, as if today was a lazy Sunday. He slowly struggled to sit up about halfway, his forelegs supporting his upper-body. He held it for a few seconds then plopped back down again, too tired to go for longer. He was about ready to try again, when a female voice suddenly dug into his ears. "Well, it seems like you're a late sleeper. I guess I can't blame ya though, I found you delirious and talking to yourself around midnight, and picked you up and dragged you right on over here. I lit a fire, and watched you to make sure you fell asleep. Eventually you did, at about two o'clock in the morning. Oh, and by the way, my name's Alona." It was too much information for Spyro to take in at once, especially since he was waking up.

"Can you repeat that?" When Spyro spoke, all he heard was a deep, scratchy voice, not his normal one. _Is that really me?_ Alona repeated what she had said, this time adding,

"and what's wrong with your voice?" at the end. It took Spyro a second to come up with an excuse, and finally said,

"Oh, just… allergies." Alona decided to not ask any more questions, because she could tell Spyro was lying, and figured he had a good reason to do so. "So, what's your name?" She asked in a kind tone.

"Spyro," Spyro replied plainly.

He tried to stand, but then Alona spoke up.

"Don't try to stand yet; you will need all your strength for later. For when we go back into town to get you some stuff to make you feel better." Spyro froze. Alona probably didn't hear about the crimes he had committed yet. He had to make an excuse to not go into a town.

"I-I'm fine. I don't really need anything. I-I'm part ice dragon after all."

"Part ice dragon or not, you still need to eat. Being the dumb dragon that I am, I left my pack open on the way and all of my supplies fell. I was trying to set a record for the fastest time climbing up this mountain without flying. I guess it'll have to wait." Spyro couldn't hold it any longer. He had to tell her the truth.

"Listen, Alona. I'm not just any innocent dragon. I don't know if you know the legend of the Purple Dragon or not, but I am the Purple Dragon. I fought in a war and defeated Malefor, who was the Purple Dragon before me and was being controlled by the Dark Master. After I defeated him, the Dark Master went into me and now I'm real close to being taken over. I've already committed a few terrible crimes, and now I'm wanted. I'm a danger to your life, Alona, and I don't want to kill another innocent." Alona looked thoughtful for a few minutes, and finally said casually, "Nah, I'm staying with you. I'm a poison dragon, so, if you ever suddenly 'turn evil' I could just tranquilize you with my tail. I can sense how you feel, so I'm not going to bring you to prison if it comes to that. I'll just leave, and you'd hopefully understand why." Spyro nodded.

"But how are we going to get our food? As soon as I walk into a public area I'll be attacked on the spot!"

Alona smirked. "Trust me, I have my ways."

A few hours later, after accidentally finding all of Spyro's ticklish spots by trying to paint him, Alona said she was done. She told Spyro to make sure to stay out of water until they got back from the town. "Well, can I see myself now?" Spyro was practically jumping up and down with impatience.

"Sure, sure, go look in a mirror. Oh, wait, there [are none.] Just trust me, you look fine. If you really wanna know, you're yellow. Your temporary name will be Kilo, since it's more of an out-of-town name, not like the others. We'll just say we're passing through. If anybody asks if you've seen the Purple Dragon, say no. If anyone suggests that you're the Purple Dragon, deny, deny, [deny.] And, if any of the paint drips off, you RUN. Got it?" Alona gave Spyro a minute to think about what he had just heard. He concluded his thoughts and said, somewhat casually,

"Okay." Although the Dark Master had a different thought in mind.

_Don't trust her. She'll just betray you and turn you in._

Spyro looked at Alona, then at the ground. "Um, Alona, can you excuse me for a moment? I kinda have to… _go_."

"Go? Why? What do you…"

"No, not that type of go…"

"Oh… okay." Spyro tried his best to casually walk out of the area, but since it was all open, there was nothing to hide behind. He ended up walking kind of far away, and digging down into the snow until he his grass. Instead of relieving himself, Spyro sat back against the little snow 'hole' he had made and began talking with the Dark Master.

"She's not gonna turn me in."

_Spyro, she will. I could hear it in her voice._

"If she wanted me in jail, why didn't she just carry me there when I was unconscious? Plus, who would have sent her up there?"

_That I do not know. What I do know is, when she talked, at some points her voice trem- _Suddenly Alona's voice interrupted their communication.

"Spyro, how long does it take you to take a piss? C'mon, if we want to make it to town on time, before the deli closes, we need to leave _now_!" She sounded like an angry mother. Spyro jumped out of the hole with great ease, and followed Alona when she began to trek down the mountain.

They talked the entire way down the mountain, and Spyro began to hear her voice tremble along with the Dark Master. Spyro ignored it, knowing that even if she _was _tricking him he could get out of practically any situation anyways. Or so he thought. "Okay, so here's how it's going to go down," Alona said. "I've painted a few red streaks on your chest, so it looks like you were hurt. Someone will hopefully see it, and ask about it, and you'll say that you were attacked by the purple dragon, suggesting you're not… you. We'll just buy some food from a deli or something - I have money - and leave. Sound good?" Spyro nodded and just kept on walking beside her, the Dark Master gnawing at him to turn back.

By the time they got in town, the sun was setting. "We should get to the deli quick, it's closing soon." Man, these cheetahs did lightning fast repairs. The deli was already looking like new, and was actually running quite well. Spyro and Alona shuffled through dragons trying to get to the deli so they could get their food as soon as possible so they could get out of the town quickly. Luckily, the line moved fast. Spyro and Alona got up front. Alona just asked for a some goat meat, cooked. A minute later the cheetah came back with one, and handed it to Alona. It was in plastic for now, so she grabbed it in her mouth and walked out of the deli, Spyro close behind her. She tore open the meat, took a piece, and gave it to Spyro. "Thanks." He said, grateful that she paid for him. He took a bite, and for some reason felt a bit more… relaxed. He sat down, and then started to feel a bit tired. Suddenly he started to feel woozy, and the world began to spin. He heard Alona ask him something, but it sounded too muffled to understand what she was saying. He fell backwards as the world faded away, and didn't feel his head hit the ground.

The first thing Spyro felt when he awoke was a pounding headache and numbness all over his body. He couldn't move. _At_ _all_. "Ugh, what was in that meat…"

_They drugged it, dumbass! Alona betrayed you!_

"How long did it take you to figure _that _out, sherlock…" Spyro noticed a metal thing around his neck. He wanted to try to take it off, but the drug was still in effect, so he couldn't move. He would have to wait until he could move again to try to take it off. He looked around with his eyes only, and realized he was in a stone room. He heard voices outside. Spyro wanted out of here, _now_.

It was time to show them the true power of pure darkness.

**You're probably all on the edge of your seats! Naw, it's not good enough for that. Well, you can go make some wafflez now, cuz that's the end of this chapter!**

**~MonstaWolf**


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